An evolving family of standards, specifications, and technical reports is being developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™) to define parameters associated with second and third generation wireless communication systems. These systems include a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and data access technologies such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). The acronyms GSM, GPRS, and EDGE are subsumed in “GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN).” Additional information regarding these technologies may be found in European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Technical Specification TS 101 855 V8.17.0, Digital Cellular Telecommunications System (Phase 2+); Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for a GERAN-based 3GPP System (3GPP TS 01.01 version 8.17.0 Release 1999) (published June 2005). Additional information regarding the 3GPP™ may be found at http://www.3gpp.org/.
Current GERAN standardizations may use modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) that include a one-third rate convolution coding operation followed by puncturing to a desired code rate. These MCSs may be denoted MCS1 thru MCS9. A resulting punctured block may be interleaved across several time-division multiple-access (TDMA) frames. For example, the block may be divided into four bursts and the bursts may then be transmitted in four consecutive TDMA frames.
A frequency hopping capability available in GSM may be configured as disabled, in which case the four bursts may be transmitted on the same up-conversion frequency. Alternatively, frequency hopping may be configured as enabled, in which case the four bursts may be transmitted on different up-conversion frequencies. for example, MCS7, MCS8 and MCS9 are encoded at a high rate and are modulated to enable them to provide data rates of approximately 45.0 to 59.4 kilobits (kbits)/s per timeslot. MCS7, MCS8, and MCS9 may operate using coding rates of R=0.75, 0.82, and 1.0, respectively. These high coding rates may result in substantially degraded performance, both in hopping channels and in non-hopping channels, at over-terrain speeds greater than a few kilometers per hour. Throughput may become capped due to block error rate (BLER) floors associated with these MCSs at higher over-terrain speeds, such that maximum theoretical throughputs may be unachievable even as signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) increase.